Lee Kelly | Recent Work | Viewing Room

 
 

Elizabeth Leach Gallery is pleased to present Recent Work by Lee Kelly, featuring steel sculptures, cast bronze forms and figurative watercolors. The exhibition focuses on new works inspired by past writings, musings and studies found inside the pages of the artist’s studio sketchbooks.

 
 
 
 

Lee Kelly, Yucatan Unicycle, 2020, corten steel, 128 x 75 x 45"
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In Yucatan Unicycle, 2020, an elongated vertical shape balances on a bisected wheel-like structure at the base. The form communicates the strength and frailty of the human body sitting solidly balanced and grounded in place, while its Cor-ten steel patina is intended to weather and evolve over time.

 
 
 
 

Pages from the artist’s sketchbook

 
 
 

Lee Kelly, Tibetan Wedding, 2021, stainless steel, 96 x 70 x 24”
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Kelly’s travel inspirations are evident in the sculptural works that range in scale from immense standing sculptures to intimately sized cast bronze pieces. The lyrical imagery synthesizes modernist and ancient aesthetics, as exemplified in Tibetan Wedding, 2020, where the central figure of the circular trio appears to be residing over a ceremony between two zig-zagged shaped forms perched on rudimentary wheels. Swirling markings on the steel’s surface are made by a grinder tool that texturizes and activates the metal, allowing brilliant light reflections at every vantage point. The end result evokes a feeling of exuberant celebration.

 
 
 

Lee Kelly, LEFT TO RIGHT: Nepal I, Nepal III, Nepal II, Naga Temple, 2020, small bronze sculptures, 9 x 3.5 x 2” and under
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Lee Kelly, Blue Mountain l, 2020, bronze, 8 x 17.75 x 3"

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Lee Kelly, Untitled C (detail), 2005, mixed media collage with gold leaf, 14.75 x 14.25” framed, $1,500 INQUIRE>

Lee Kelly, Untitled C (detail), 2005, mixed media collage with gold leaf, 14.75 x 14.25” framed
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Lee Kelly, LEFT: Garden Element I, 2000, corten steel, 88 x 15 x 12”, INQUIRE>

RIGHT: Garden Element II, 2000, corten steel, 88 x 18 x12”, INQUIRE>

 
 

He began as an explorer inside the energies of youthful experimentation, matured to invent and travel in the arena of monumental public space and celebration, and now has found, in the last period of his life, a path rich in allusion and meditative shimmer

 

BRUCE GUENTHER, CURATOR (2010)

 
 
 
Promotional material from Kelly’s 1963 exhibition, Recent Work

Promotional material from Kelly’s 1963 exhibition, Recent Work

 
 
 

STUDIO VISIT WITH LEE KELLY


 
 

 

Watch Kelly discuss his studio practice, art making process, and the ideas behind Recent Work. To see the see the full exhibition walkthrough, click HERE.

 
 

MORE INFORMATION


 
 
 

Want to see more Lee Kelly? Download the pocket guide to his public works around Portland, OR and beyond.

 
 

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